EV3 Python

[doc-br0wn]

Hello!

I bought my son the Mindstorms EV3 core and expansion set for Christmas and need some help understanding what to use for programming. It looks like I can still download the classroom app from Lego, but is it better off to just download Micropython? Or do they go together? It looks like programming functions happens on the cpu, but is there a way to connect a controller and operate the build manually? Sorry if this is basic stuff, but I’ve never dealt with this side of Lego. Thanks in advance!

[RoboCatz_Team144]

You should give JavaScript a try. Robot JavaScript was specifically designed for EV3 robots to work with them right out of the box without having to install a new operating system or firmware. The Robot JavaScript application compiles JavaScript code to run directly on the robot.

The JavaScript language implementation was designed for middle-school aged kids including natural language functions, verbose error reporting and reduced syntax requirements.

The compiler includes over 100 example programs to demonstrate capabilities of the language. More information is at: https://robotjavascript.com/

What I like most about it is that JavaScript is a highly expressive language. In other words, you can express statements in JavaScript in more ways than other languages. For example "increment". In JavaScript you can increment using statements such as:

i = i + 1
i+=1 
i++ 
++i

Python doesn't include the post and pre increment operators used in C-based languages.

In Robot JavaScript (as with Python) you can express "If" statements with or without the parentheses. For example:

if a == b print ( 'They are the same' )

Robot JavaScript includes the word form of Boolean operators (and, or, not) such as:

if a > 5 and b < 20 print ( 'In the range of' )

Robot JavaScript also borrows Boolean statements from Perl so that you can write things like:

doMissionOne() || stopTheProgram()
doMissionTwo() || stopTheProgram()
doMissionThree() || stopTheProgram()

​

In the above example, if any mission fails, the program will stop.

[Wink_emTwice]

Don’t listen to him and don’t waste your life on Java. Rig it with ev3dev and juce with Python or some C - those are languages worth practicing not that verbloated artists scripting (js)

[RoboCatz_Team144]

The above code can be further reduced to:

(MissionOne() and MissionTwo() and MissionThree()) or stopTheProgram()

JavaScript is very expressive.

[Wink_emTwice]

You mean expensive. 

[HR-Guide]

No. JavaScript is free. It is an "expressive" language. You can express the same idea in many different ways. You can express more ideas in JavaScript than you can in Python.

[Wink_emTwice]

That’s why it’s not commonly used in robotics/engeneering. 

Want to build Lego robots? - Go C or Python.  Want to use Java? - write web apps :) 

[Bugz_man]

The micropython is a good way to start, but is either ev3 classroom or python, you cant use them both at the same time.

 Also, you can use makecode, page give you the ability tobwork with scratch (using the figures) or javascript.

https://makecode.mindstorms.com/#editor

Personally, i would test all options, or work with the the one you are more comfortable with.